Final Results

Witan Investment Trust PLC 30 January 2004 WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS 29 January 2004 WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Financial Highlights Year ended Year ended 31 December 2003 31 December 2002 Per Ordinary Share: in pence in pence Net Asset Value 358.2 307.6 Earnings 8.98 8.92 Dividends - interim and final (net) 8.30 8.10 Extracts from the Chairman's Statement: Background When I took over as Chairman in March of last year none of us would have believed the magnitude of the increase that world equity markets have since experienced. I am therefore delighted to be reporting a real return on the year of significant proportions. Overview This is the first time in the last four years that the overall return from Witan and from world equity markets has been positive. However, in contrast to the strong outperformance at the end of the 1990s, this is the fourth year that we have underperformed our benchmark. Markets The prospect of the first synchronised global recovery for nearly twenty years has driven markets to unexpected levels; so what is our approach to 2004? The trends in valuation, GDP growth and policy affecting equity markets around the world would seem to favour markets such as the Far East, including Japan. In the more fully valued markets such as the US, currency considerations will be an important determinant of stock selection. - MORE - - 2 - WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Recent announcement I hope you are aware of the announcement that your Board made in October last year; namely its intention to appoint for the first time a Chief Executive directly employed by Witan Investment Trust. This decision will enable your Board to appoint investment managers alongside Henderson to manage the Trust's assets. We believe this to be in shareholders' best interests as no one fund management company can have at their disposal top managers in all markets. Management fees The management fee was due for renegotiation at the end of 2003. You will recall that we had last agreed to a £4 million fixed fee and a performance fee capped at £1.5 million. This was negotiated at a time of strongly rising asset values. There is no doubt that in the early years this agreement worked to our advantage but more latterly, with falling markets, to our disadvantage. It was necessary to agree an interim fee arrangement with Henderson, given that the old fee rates were up for renegotiation and that we are planning a reorganisation of the investment management providers once the new Chief Executive is in place. In summary, we have agreed to pay Henderson 0.3% of assets under management per annum (calculated monthly in arrears with effect from 1 January 2004) until such time as we can determine the exact nature of the relationship. It is worth recording that the Trust receives a number of other important services from Henderson which are covered by this fee. Dividends In accordance with our current policy we have again increased the dividend. It is our intention, subject to shareholders' approval, to pay a final dividend of 4.60 pence per ordinary share, to make a total distribution for the year of 8.30 pence (2002: 8.10 pence) out of earnings of 8.98 pence per share. Chief Executive Officer I would like to welcome Jim Horsburgh who joins on 2 February as Witan's new Chief Executive Officer, the first to be employed directly by the Company. This is an important initiative which we believe offers the Company greater flexibility, with the twin objectives of improving both the investment and the discount performance of Witan. He comes with a great deal of experience across many aspects of the investment world. The changes which he has been charged to make will take some time to effect as we wish to make haste slowly. We do not envisage that new managers for any part of the portfolio will be in place until well into the second half of the year. We plan to give shareholders more information at the time of our AGM in March. H M Henderson Chairman 29 January 2004 - MORE - - 3 - WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Statement of Total Return (incorporating the revenue account) Year ended 31 December 2002 Year ended 31 December 2003 Revenue Capital Total Revenue Capital Total £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Net capital gains/(losses) from - 180,470 180,470 - (420,454) (420,454) investments Income from fixed asset investments 36,068 - 36,068 36,034 - 36,034 Other interest receivable and similar 2,576 - 2,576 2,376 - 2,376 income ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Gross revenue and capital gains/(losses) 38,644 180,470 219,114 38,410 (420,454) (382,044) Management fee (1,059) (3,175) (4,234) (1,018) (3,057) (4,075) Other administrative expenses (2,540) - (2,540) (2,341) - (2,341) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities 35,045 177,295 212,340 35,051 (423,511) (388,460) before interest payable and taxation Interest payable (2,532) (7,599) (10,131) (2,535) (7,606) (10,141) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities 32,513 169,696 202,209 32,516 (431,117) (398,601) before taxation Taxation on net return on ordinary (1,151) - (1,151) (1,071) - (1,071) activities ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Net return/(loss) on ordinary activities 31,362 169,696 201,058 31,445 (431,117) (399,672) after taxation Dividends - preference shares (83) - (83) (83) - (83) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Attributable to the ordinary 31,279 169,696 200,975 31,362 (431,117) (399,755) shareholders ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Dividends - ordinary shares Interim payment of 3.70p (2002: 3.65p) (12,832) - (12,832) (12,822) - (12,822) Final proposed of 4.60p (2002: 4.45p) (15,802) - (15,802) (15,590) - (15,590) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- (28,634) - (28,634) (28,412) - (28,412) ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- Transfer to/(from) reserves 2,645 169,696 172,341 2,950 (431,117) (428,167) ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== Return/(loss) per ordinary share 8.98p 48.70p 57.68p 8.92p (122.68)p (113.76)p ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== The revenue columns of this statement represent the revenue accounts of the Company. - MORE - - 4 - WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Balance Sheet at 31 December 2003 2003 2002 £'000 £'000 Fixed asset investments Listed in the United Kingdom (at market value) 776,212 690,176 Listed abroad (at market value) 545,922 454,346 Unquoted (at directors' valuation) 10,573 26,067 ------------- ------------- 1,332,707 1,170,589 ------------- ------------- Current assets Debtors 6,802 3,306 Cash at bank and short term deposits 56,435 68,806 ------------- ------------- 63,237 72,112 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (18,750) (18,267) ------------- ------------- Net current assets 44,487 53,845 ------------- ------------- Total assets less current liabilities 1,377,194 1,224,434 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year (144,255) (144,176) ------------- ------------- Total net assets 1,232,939 1,080,258 ======= ======= Capital and reserves Called up share capital Preference shares 2,555 2,555 Ordinary shares 85,880 87,585 Share premium 16,237 16,237 Other capital reserves Redemption reserve 7,946 6,241 Capital reserve - realised 907,689 977,552 Capital reserve - unrealised 187,303 (32,596) Revenue reserve 25,329 22,684 ------------- ------------- Shareholders' funds (including non-equity interests of £2,555,000) 1,232,939 1,080,258 ======= ======= Net asset value per ordinary share 358.2p 307.6p ======= ======= - MORE - - 5 - WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Cash Flow Statement for the year ended 31 December 2003 2003 2003 2002 2002 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Net cash inflow from operating activities 29,852 30,180 Servicing of finance Debenture and secured bond interest paid (10,035) (10,035) Bank interest paid (26) (29) Dividends paid on preference shares (83) (83) ------------ ------------ Net cash outflow from servicing of finance (10,144) (10,147) Taxation UK tax recovered - 41 Overseas tax recovered 190 397 ------------ ------------ Net tax recovered 190 438 Financial investment Purchases of investments (393,968) (618,200) Sales of investments 411,992 650,333 Cash inflow from forward exchange contracts - 2,269 Cash (outflow)/inflow from futures contracts (23) 1,184 ------------ ------------ Net cash inflow from financial investment 18,001 35,586 Equity dividends paid (28,422) (28,120) Management of liquid resources Cash placed on deposit - (25,000) ------------ ------------ - (25,000) ------------ ------------ Net cash inflow before financing 9,477 2,937 Financing Buy-backs of ordinary shares (19,660) (3,797) ------------ ------------ Net cash outflow from financing (19,660) (3,797) ------------ ------------ Decrease in cash (10,183) (860) ======= ======= Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt Decrease in cash as above (10,183) (860) Cash outflow from management of liquid resources - 25,000 ------------ ------------ Change in net debt resulting from cash flows (10,183) 24,140 Exchange movements (2,188) (1,265) Increase in valuation of debt (79) (79) ------------ ------------ Movement in net debt in the year (12,450) 22,796 Net debt at 1 January (75,370) (98,166) ------------ ------------ Net debt at 31 December (87,820) (75,370) ======= ======= - MORE - - 6 - WITAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC Unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2003 Notes : 1. Return/(loss) per ordinary share The revenue return per ordinary share is based on the earnings attributable to the ordinary shares of £31,279,000 (2002: £31,362,000) and on the weighted average number of ordinary shares of 25p each in issue during the year of 348,414,853 (2002: 351,412,865) The capital return per ordinary share is based on the net capital gains for the year of £169,696,000 (2002: net capital losses of £431,117,000) and on the weighted average number of ordinary shares of 25p each in issue during the year, as stated above. 2. Issued share capital The number of ordinary shares of 25p each in issue at 31 December 2003 was 343,518,086 (2002: 350,338,086). 3. Dividend A final dividend of 4.60p per share has been recommended, payable on 2 April 2004. The record date for the dividend will be 5 March 2004 and the ex-dividend date will be 3 March 2004. 4. 2003 Accounts The preliminary figures for the year ended 31 December 2003 are an extract from the Company's latest accounts for that period and do not constitute statutory accounts as defined by section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. These accounts have not yet been delivered to the Registrar of Companies, nor have the auditors yet reported on them. 5. 2002 Accounts The figures and financial information for the year ended 31 December 2002 are an extract from the latest published accounts of the Company and do not constitute the statutory accounts for that year. Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and included the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under either section 237(2) or section 237(3) of the Companies Act 1985. 6. Annual Report and Annual General Meeting The full annual report and accounts will be posted to shareholders in February 2004 and copies will be available from the Secretary at the Company's Registered Office, 4 Broadgate, London EC2M 2DA. The Annual General Meeting will be held at 6.45 pm on Monday 29 March 2004 at the British Museum. For further information please contact: Harry Henderson Chairman Witan Investment Trust plc Telephone: 07710 253491 or James Robinson Witan Investment Trust plc Telephone: 020 7818 4312 or James Budden Witan Investment Trust plc Telephone: 020 7818 3121 or Gordon Puckey Quill Communications Telephone: 020 7763 6975 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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